The April 3 Easter Vigil services around the world welcomed new Catholics in an ages-old ritual. For two of the people who came into the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Washington, though they have disparate immigrant histories from Vietnam and Northern Ireland, their journeys led them into one faith.
Vu Vuong became a Catholic at the Easter Vigil service at Our Lady of Vietnam Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. His path to the Church was triggered by observing his fiancée’s family’s devotion to the faith and the way they live out Gospel teachings.
“They are just such different people,” he said. “They are really selfless and welcoming. I’ve always been a nice guy, but not like they are.”
Although his mother occasionally took him and his sister to church as children, he isn’t even sure which denomination it was and they didn’t go often. He believes that was due in part to language limitations and the unsettled life of recent refugees.
Vuong, his mother and sister fled Vietnam when he was 5, spending seven days on a boat that had engine trouble and drifted four days longer than the trip was intended to take. The boat ran out of water and one passenger died before it was allowed to dock in Malaysia, he recalled.
A Malaysian refugee camp became their home for two years, then they spent another year in the Philippines before being admitted to the United States, where an aunt sponsored them to resettle.
Vu Vuong, who became a Catholic at the Easter Vigil at Our Lady of Vietnam Church in Silver Spring on April 3, was inspired by the witness of faith of his wife and her family. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)
By the time Vuong was a young adult studying architecture at The Catholic University of America, he was curious enough about Catholicism to take a religious studies class.
“I enjoyed it, but at that age I was more interested in other things,” he told the Catholic Standard. “As I got older, those other things became less and less valuable.”
His curiosity about religion eventually led a friend to recommend the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program at Our Lady of Vietnam Parish, where he had been attending Mass with his fiancée, now his wife, Tran Nguyen. “Before, I would go to church and I wouldn’t understand parts of the Mass,” he said.
The pandemic twist to his path to the Church is that shifting to online classes made it much easier for him to attend, because it eliminated the 45 minutes to an hour he would normally spend driving from his home close to Washington to the church in Silver Spring.
Originally he was in a class taught in Vietnamese. But a new student from China, who also plans to marry a woman from Our Lady of Vietnam, didn’t understand Vietnamese well, so an English section was opened to help him.
“I saw him in a class alone, so I joined him,” Vuong said. Going through the process at Our Lady of Vietnam brought Vuong and his Chinese classmate a Vietnamese cultural experience. “It worked out great.”
Speaking to the Catholic Standard a few weeks before Easter, Vuong said he didn’t think “excitement” is the word to describe how he felt about becoming Catholic.
“I feel loved and like I belong,” he said. “I love my family. My wife is a part of the Church, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Vu Vuong, second from left in the front row, was among eight people who became full members of the Catholic Church during the April 3 Easter Vigil at Our Lady of Vietnam Church in Silver Spring. Standing in the middle of the back row is Father Tam Tran, the pastor there. (Courtesy photo)
Drawn to the faith after a family emergency
For Claire Telford, the emergency Baptism of her critically ill newborn child in a hospital started her exploration of Catholicism, leading her to becoming a Catholic herself at the Easter Vigil on April 3 at Mother Seton Church in Germantown, Maryland.
“It was such an honor to be a part of this amazing ceremony celebrating the resurrection of Jesus while simultaneously welcoming 16 people into full communion with Christ,” Telford said of her vigil experience. “It was very serene to be in this candle-lit heavenly presence with everyone and the gospels, music, bells, incense.”
Claire Telford receives her First Eucharist from Father Lee Fangmeyer, the pastor of Mother Seton Parish in Germantown, during the April 3 Easter Vigil at the Maryland church. (Photo by Jeff Thorne)
Telford, the mother of three, had been baptized into the Anglican Church as a child in Northern Ireland. “But we didn’t pursue the faith,” she told the Catholic Standard.
Though she described herself as always having a spiritual awareness, her life’s path had not included practicing any religion. Her husband Antonio Salinas had been raised Catholic, but he wasn’t practicing either and she said she never had much experience of the Church.
Then their youngest son, Conan, was born with complications and soon had multiple organs failing. “We didn’t think he’d make it.”
Because her husband is Catholic, a priest was called to baptize Conan.
“The comfort that gave me” was powerful, she said. “I also was in awe that someone came so quickly.” The next month, after Conan was out of danger, Telford sought out the priest and started talking to him. The family soon moved from New York to Maryland. Telford’s ongoing exploration of Catholicism through the Mother Seton RCIA program led the couple to have their then-3-year-old, Shannon, baptized at Mother Seton last year.
Antonio Salinas and Claire Telford at center pose with their children Conan, Shannon and Roman after Shannon's Baptism last year at Mother Seton Church in Germantown. At left is Father Jose Cortes and at right is Marie Bradley, Shannon’s godmother. (Family photo)
“In the midst of the pandemic it seemed more important,” to complete the family’s baptisms as Catholics, she explained. Their eldest, 7-year old Roman, also had been baptized in a hospital, while in the neonatal intensive care unit as a newborn.
Shannon’s Baptism when few people were going to Mass in person because of the pandemic, “was probably her first time in church,” Telford said. But it seemed as though even at her young age, Shannon was “engaged with the Holy Spirit. I was in awe.”
Those repeated feelings of awe around the sacraments, along with the experience of learning about the faith over the last year during pandemic restrictions, were keys to Telford’s decision to take the final steps at Easter.
“I joined because I had a spiritual awakening,” Telford said. “Some say they join because they want to be Catholic, or because they’re marrying a Catholic. But for me it was because it was fulfilling a spiritual need.”
Antonio Salinas and Claire Telford pose for a family photo with their baby son Conan and their son Roman and daughter Shannon. (Family photo)
Having grown up in Irish schools where students were presumed to be Christian and the curriculum included religion, Telford said it came as a bit of a surprise to learn that in their public schools, her children were not being taught much about religious beliefs. Realizing she wanted to be able to teach her children more about faith also was a part of why she joined the RCIA program at Mother Seton.
Speaking of which, Telford said she initially thought she could teach herself what she didn’t know about Catholicism. As a health economist in the health care field, she thinks of herself as a professional researcher. But once she joined classes with others in RCIA, “I realized how much I didn’t know,” she said.
She offered advice to others who are considering learning more about Catholicism. “Don’t try to do this alone,” she said. “You don’t need to and having others is a big help.” She mused that she and others from her classes could become lifelong friends.
